Breaking the Chain
by Hiei-Touya-icedemon
Summary: Set twenty years after the Naruto story begins, a new student arises. Mariko Aki is a barely thirteen year old girl with a troublemaking reputation and a passion for Genjutsu. She and her teammates clash, even under the eyes of new Jonin, Sakura Haruno.
1. Two Lives

It was a cloudless, blue-sky day in Konohagakure Village, the kind that just made you think of ice cream rather than apple pie, of picnics instead of sleepovers. But a brown-haired, barely-thirteen girl took no notice of the beautiful weather as she tore around the corner of Shyrine Road.

The girl was flat-chested and panting, heaving her blue ninja sandals off the ground as she ran as hard as she could, trying to reach the Academy before class began. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side as the shrill sound of the class bell reached her unusually sensitive ears.

The girl groaned as she sank to the ground, looking up at the brick wall that separated her and the house behind it. After a moment of thought, the girl's face broke into a grin.

Latching herself onto the wall, utilizing the one black kunai knife she'd been entrusted with, she slowly began to make her way up the solid slab of brick that had been made just to prevent this kind of activity.

Once at the top of the wall, the young girl gathered her strength and heaved herself as far as she could. Managing to grasp the edge of the tiles on the roof of the house in front of her, sheslowlycrawled her way up to the roof.

"Whew" she said, mopping her brow. The girl scanned the area for Chunin patrollers, and upon seeing none, took off across the roofs of the many houses in this complex.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Unknown to the girl, a golden-haired man watched her from the Hokage building, five miles away. He laughed as he watched Mariko Aki hop across the houses, but was careful not to let his mind wander away from the small crystal ball, in case Aki ended up breaking anything on the houses, as she usually did whenever she took this path to the Academy.

Though this path had been strictly forbidden to Aki, the man did not report her to his squadron of Chunin patrollers. After all, Aki often reminded the man, the current Hokage, of himself when he was around her age. Of course, it was entirely possible that the patrol would see her anyway, as they oftenhad withNaruto when _he_ was young, but still...

Naruto sat up curiously as Aki looked sharply to the right, then took off twice as fast in the opposite direction. So Konohamaru had caught on to her, huh?

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"Crap!" Aki murmured to herself as she raced over the houses, three green-clad Chunin chasing after her. She was heading _away_ from the academy, and that was _not_ good.

At the present time, Aki could think of only one thing to do. It was probably the only thing that would work on three people over twice her age, anyway.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Konohamaru blinked as the young girl he was chasing gave a sudden turn and began racing straight towards him and his two Chunin partners.

"She's gonna try to jump over us! Get back!" Konohamaru ordered. Susumu and Takumi obeyed, and Konohamaru stayed forward.

Indeed, Aki, once she was six feet in front of them, pressed her foot downtothe roof tilesand took off into the air. Konohamaru noticed her hands were behind her back and seemed to be moving. He realized too late what Aki was up to.

In an instant, Aki was gone, a log havingreplaced her. All three Chunin jerked around insanely, trying to find the young student.

It didn't take long. Aki was soaring through the air, twenty feet away, waving to the squad. All three Chunin watched, dumbfounded, as the girl gave one last comment before disappearing behind a house.

"See ya, losers!"

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"See ya, losers!"

Aki laughed as she landed on the ground, seven feet from the academy. She loved outsmarting that squad, particularly Konohamaru. He seemed to have a particular thing for Aki, and she adored getting the best of him. Now, about getting into class without Master Iruka noticing…

"Hello Aki"

Aki whirled around, her heart sinking already.

"Master Iruka… What are you doing here?" she asked accusingly.

"No, what are _you_ doing here? You're supposed to be in class" A flash of remembrance hit Iruka as he recalled saying those exact words to Naruto, exactly twenty years ago. Aki, noticing, began to creep away, trying to make it to the window so she wouldn't have to listen to Iruka the whole way to class. But unfortunately for Aki, Iruka had been through this many times, and within two seconds, had Aki's ear firmly in his grip.

"Hey!" she cried. "Let go!" Iruka raised his eyebrows once more.

"You're kidding, right?"

Aki groaned as Iruka began to drag her all the way to the front entrance, Aki protesting the whole way.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Aki impatiently tapped her fingers on the wooden desktop, awaiting the most beautiful time of day; 3:30 PM, the time that detentions ended and she was free.

But today, Aki had another reason for her anxiety. The moment she was released, she could go home and practice. The graduation exam would be the next day, and Aki refused to fail.

"All right, you can go" Iruka said, looking up from his paperwork. Aki was up and out of there the moment he finished talking. Iruka smiled sadly.

"Maybe I should have taken her out for something. I mean, I know what it's like for her at home"

-xxxxxxxxxx-

As Aki walked in the door, the usual chaos was at hand. Her mother, Emi, was racing around the house trying to find something, and Aki's little sister, Takara, was screaming that they had to get going. Emi finally extracted a small kunai knife from a small basket at the base of the stairs, and the pair began to race out the door.

"Oh, Aki, thank goodness you're here!" Emi said, having only just noticed her other daughter had arrived home. "I need you to get dinner ready. Arata's busy training, of course, and I have to take your sister to kunai practice, so you'll have to do it"

"But mom-" Aki protested, "I was gonna train today! The graduation test is-"

"Yes, well, you'll have to do it later" her mother interrupted, rather distractedly. She hustled out the door without another word.

Aki scowled as she closed the door behind her mother. So much for practice. Maybe she should have just stayed in detention…

Making a beeline for the kitchen, Aki took a glance out the nearby window that looked straight into the small backyard. There she saw a black-haired boy kissing on a girl with dark red hair. Aki scowled.

"Training, my ass…"

But she gave up and headed for the fridge. Inside she found two cantaloupes and a pear, an empty meat tray, and nothing else. She felt her face grow hot and turned towards the window.

"ARATA!"

"What?" Aki's brother looked up from making out with his current girlfriend.

"Where's the meatloaf? It was in here this morning!"

Arata just smirked and popped the last piece of meat into his mouth. Aki could have screamed. Instead, she reached for her hip.

Arata caught the two shuriken that went flying his way. He clucked his tongue and shook his head, waving his finger at Aki like she was a child. This time she did scream, and slammed the window shut.

Storming back over to the kitchen, she began to search the pantry for anything you could cook. Suddenly, she felt her body tense, and she jerked her head around as she head breaking glass.

There the two shuriken sat, embedded in the oven door. She stared for a moment, then took off for the window once more. She gaped at the large hole that the shuriken had broken in the window before slamming it open.

"ARATA!"

"What do you want now?" the teenager asked, though his smirk told Aki that he knew the answer to that question.

"Now look what you've done!"

"Oops" Arata said smugly.

Aki once more slammed the window shut, though this time, most of the rest of the glass came flying out. Instantly, Aki ducked, and the glass missed her, but not the laughs of her brother before he returned to his girlfriend.

Deciding she'd deal with the window later, Aki wandered back to the kitchen. She pulled the shuriken out of the oven and examined the damage done. There was no way she was going to be able to cook on that thing again.

After re-examining the fridge's supply, Aki shook her head.

"Fruit salad it is, then"

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"You know, Aki, I had meatloaf in the refrigerator" Emi said as her family sat down for dinner that evening. Aki looked up to glare at her brother, who smirked. Aki was just grateful for her talent in Genjutsu, as she'd been able to create an illusion of a fixed window that would fool even the Hokage.

"But I take it you burnt it again" Aki's head shot up.

"What?"

"Come now, Aki, you can't fool me. Just look at the condition of the oven. It's clearly been damaged, and you probably left the meatloaf in too long this time. What have I told you about that?"

Aki tensed, but didn't look at her brother, lest she try to attack him. She stood abruptly.

"I'm finished" she said, taking her plate over to the sink. She then began to walk to the stairs, forgetting about the illusion she was supposed to be upholding. When she was about halfway up, she heard her mother call her.

"Aki! What on earth happened to this window?"

Aki broke into a run. She raced up the stairs, not wanting to listen to her brother giving a speech about how careless she was.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

As Aki sat in her room, grounded for 'breaking the window' and not telling her mother about it, she remembered the graduation test tomorrow. She hadn't gotten _any_ training done. But she just _couldn't_ fail. Arata, who graduated from the Academy at nine, would never let her forget it. Maybe she could do a little training in her room, on a few of the Genjutsu tricks she knew…

"Aki! I need you to come downstairs and do the dishes! I have to tuck Takara in, and your brother's busy!"

Aki didn't say anything as she stormed down the stairs, though she did give Arata a hard glare when she saw him polishing his kunai knives.

"Aki! Don't stomp! Your sister's trying to sleep!" Aki balled up her fists, but released and focused on her brother.

"Busy, eh?" she asked, beginning to scrub down Takara's oatmeal bowl from this morning.

"Nope" Arata said, kicking back in his chair. "I just like to get under your skin"

Aki said nothing, but her grip on the bowl was so tight that it spilt it right in half.

"Aki!"

-xxxxxxxxxx-

There was only one advantage to having the attic as your room, Aki thought as she crawled out of bed that night. The emergency exit.

Every house in Konoha had an emergency exit; a trapdoor in their attics that could be accessed in case of emergency. But Aki used it as a way to be out of the house, be in the night air.

As the cool wind gently blew her brown hair away from her, Aki looked out towards the moon from the ladder she stood on. Someone far away was listening to a radio, and once again, Aki's oversensitive ears picked up on it.

_Grew up in a small town _

_And when the rain would fall down _

_I'd just stare out my window _

_Dreamin' of what could be _

_And if I'd end up happy _

_I would pray _

Aki's ears perked up a bit. The song sounded a bit like her.

_Trying hard to reach out _

_But when I tried to speak out _

_Felt like no one could hear me _

_Wanting to belong here _

_But something felt so wrong here _

_So I prayed I could breakaway _

Aki looked down to her shoes. This sounded a _lot_ like her.

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly _

_I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky _

_And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change _

_And breakaway _

Aki smiled softly. If only.

_Out of the darkness and into the sun _

_But I won't forget all the ones that I love _

_I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change _

_And breakaway _

Aki's hand unconsciously traced over her hair. When she graduated, she knew she could break free of the chain she was stuck on. She stepped up off the ladder and onto the roof, closing the trapdoor.

_Wanna feel the warm breeze _

_Sleep under a palm tree _

A palm tree sounded great right about now. All Aki wanted was to get away.

_Feel the rush of the ocean _

_Get on board a fast train _

_Travel on a jetplane, far away _

_And breakaway _

Aki silently urged the song to go on, wanting to hear more.

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly _

_I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky _

_And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change _

_And breakaway _

_Out of the darkness and into the sun _

_I won't forget all the ones that I love _

_I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change _

_And breakaway _

Aki, at this moment, realized how different she was at home and when she was out of the house. All she really wanted was to let her personality out, but the problem was, which was it? The leader or the follower?

_Buildings with a hundred floors _

_Swinging round revolving doors _

_Maybe I don't know where they'll take me _

_But, gotta keep moving on, moving on _

_Fly away, breakaway _

Aki thought of her graduation test tomorrow. What if she didn't pass? She had no idea as to what they'd be testing on, and even if she passed, who knew who she'd have on her team? Who would her teacher be? Part of her wanted to go, part was afraid.

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly _

_Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye, gotta _

_Take a risk, take a chance, make a change _

_And breakaway _

Once again, the song was touching Aki in places she'd never been touched in. Maybe it was the fact that she'd never had anyone truly understand her, but it felt good not to have to talk, but have something already know, even if it was just a song.

_Out of the darkness and into the sun _

_But I won't forget the place I come from _

_I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change _

_And breakaway_

It was right then and there that Aki realized what she was going to do. She was going to be a ninja, and she was going to face everything that got in her way with everything she had. Even if that something was her brother.

_Breakaway_

It was at that moment that Aki realized what her dream was. She didn't really understand why, but it just seemed to come to her. _Nothing_ was going to get in her way. _Nothing..._

_Breakaway…_


	2. What the Rain Brings

Aki bit her lip as she sat at her desk, awaiting her name to be called for the exam. The clone Jutsu, which she happened to be moderately good at, was the topic of the exam.

Kazuki Isamu stepped out of the testing room, looking pleased. _He'd_ probably passed, at least. Aki jumped as Iruka called out her name. She gulped and walked into the testing room.

"Ready?" Iruka asked. Aki nodded. She thought she was going to be sick. The Chunin instructor waited patiently behind the desk.

"All right, then" Aki said. She held the sign of the tiger over her chest. "Might as well get it over with" Iruka nodded.

Aki took a deep breath.

"Transform!" she cried. She closed her eyes in hope. When she opened them, Iruka was smiling. She looked around. Giving a sigh of relief, Aki grasped her forehead as she saw three perfect clones. Iruka got up to inspect them, taking small notes on his clipboard.

"All right" he said. "You may go. You will receive the results of your examination after school today"

"All right, then" Aki said hoarsely. She scurried out of the room, flashing a smile when her classmates looked at her expectantly.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"Mom!" Aki cried when she got home. For a moment, she almost imagined she lived in a normal house, where mothers actually listened to their excited daughters. Instead, Arata looked up off the couch.

"What, Squirt?" he asked. For a moment, Aki allowed herself to forget that her brother didn't really care much about her, and she cried out:

"I passed! I'm a ninja!"

"That's nice" Arata said, re-engrossing himself in the ninja magazine he was reading. Aki snatched up the magazine.

"I _said_ I'm a ninja" she said. Arata grabbed the magazine back.

"And I _said _that's nice" he said. "Now go away"

Aki stomped her foot, but decided to go and look for her younger sister, anyway. She'd probably be the only one to care, anyway.

Takara could be found in her room, twisting her dark blond hair into two perfect buns. Aki sighed. _How_ a seven-year-old could care so much about her hair was beyond her.

"Hey Kari" Aki said, using her own nickname for the girl. Takara looked up at her.

"What?" she asked. But her line of vision showed Aki that she knew exactly what.

"I'm a ninja" Aki said. Takara took her eyes off of Aki's hitai-ate.

"I can tell" she said simply. "Can I have your practice kunai now?" Aki did a double-take.

"What?" she asked. Takara raised her eyebrows, far too much of a mature expression for a seven-year-old. She _so_ learned it from Iruka.

"Your practice kunai" Takara repeated, hopping off the bed. "Since you're gonna be getting real ones now" Aki thought for a moment.

"Oh" she said. "Sure"

"Thanks" Takara said. She headed over to Aki's room/attic, and Aki sighed. Did _anyone_ in this household care that she was a ninja?

"Hey" came a new voice from the doorway. "Did you pass the exam?"

Aki looked up. Standing there, feather duster in hand, was her mother. Aki shrugged.

"Yeah" she said. Emi smiled broadly, and Aki nearly did a double-take.

"That's wonderful!" she cried, engulfing Aki in a giant hug. Aki blinked. Okay, since when did this happen?

"Th-Thanks" Aki stammered. "I-I'd better get to my room. Gotta practice, you know…"

"Of course" Emi said. Aki was one nice word away from asking if her mother had a fever. Instead, however, she merely slipped out of the room and over to her attic. After shooing Takara out, Aki flopped down on the bed.

"When did my mom become so supportive?" Aki wondered aloud. She rolled over. "Aw, she probably just only likes you when you're a ninja" Of course, that hardly explained why she doted over Takara, but still…

"What am I thinking?" Aki cried. "Who cares? At least she's noticing me now!" She frowned. Something still didn't seem right about it. Aki shook her head.

_I know what'll cheer me up,_ she thought, smirking. Readjusting her hitai-ate so that it rested atop her head, Aki climbed up the ladder and out of the house.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Aki grinned as she sprinted across the rooftops of Konoha. Yes, it was forbidden. Yes, she was a ninja now and ought to be abiding the rules. No, she did not care.

With the wind in her face, Aki almost, _almost_ felt better. The only thing that brought her down was the fact that she was a ninja, a _ninja_ for goodness sake, and no one seemed to care. Now that she thought on it, Emi's excitement had seemed, well, _fake_. As though someone had put her up to it.

Aki looked up at the sky as she felt a drop of water hit her. She groaned. The sky was darkening over, and there were already several drops falling. Aki pounded her fist on the nearby chimney.

Almost as if on cue, the light rain began to pour. Aki gasped and looked around for cover. Covering her arms for warmth, Aki hopped to the next roof. With every roof lacking cover, Aki was soon soaked to the bone.

Shivering, Aki nearly cried out when she spotted a chimney with a large edge over it, just enough to duck under. Though frozen, Aki gathered all her strength and threw herself to the roof.

But when she landed, Aki felt her blue ninja sandals slip, and within a second, the Genin was sliding down the roof tiles. She managed to grasp the edge of the roof, and hung on for dear life. Something inside of Aki told her to call for help, but her pride wouldn't allow it.

But the rain fell harder, and the roof grew slicker. Aki soon found it harder and harder to hang on. All pride forgotten, Aki screamed.

"Help!" she screamed, praying whoever was inside the house was home. "Someone! Help me! Please!"

When no one came, Aki swallowed hard and tried to pull herself onto the roof. No use. She merely slipped farther, her fingertips now the only thing grasping the roof.

But this didn't last long. Her fingers slipped, and Aki let out a scream as she fell from a thirty foot drop…

…Right into the arms of a hooded man. He looked at the girl with raised eyebrows, and he smiled when he spotted her hitai-ate.

"Come on" the cloaked man said. "Let's get you inside"

-xxxxxxxxxx-

The man was still wearing his hood when the two entered the large house. Aki looked around in amazement, and did not see when the man removed his hood.

Aki turned to thank the man, and then froze. He looked, familiar, somehow. She wasn't quite sure where she'd seen him, and Aki was quite sure she had never seen such florescent blond hair, or such bright blue eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked. The man smiled at the young girl's confused tone.

"Recognize me, eh?" he asked. Aki nodded slightly.

"I'd expect you would" he said. "You've probably seen my face many times, just not quite in person. After all, you'd see my face carved into the rock on your way to the Academy"

Aki gasped.

"The Hokage!"

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"Have you seen Aki?" Emi asked as she entered the living room. Arata looked up.

"Nope" he said. "Probably in her room, sulking, though"

"I wanted her to do the dishes" Emi said. "Would you go check for me?" Arata sighed and got up from the couch.

"Fine" he said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked up the stairs.

"Thank you, Arata. You're so helpful" Arata rolled his eyes as he reached the ladder to Aki's room. Gripping the ladder with one hand, he raised his fist to knock on Aki's door…

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"The Hokage!"

Naruto nodded. And he knew who his companion was as well.

"The infamous Aki, I presume?" Aki blushed.

"Yeah" she said, looking down at the ground. Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"And what, may I ask, were you doing on the roof of the Hokage Hall?"

"Is that where I am?" Aki asked, looking around at the dozens of scrolls, weapons, and Konoha Tree Leaf symbols. "I-I didn't see. It was dark"

"Obviously" Naruto said, nodding out the window. Aki bit her lip. She was _so_ beyond caught. Naruto sighed.

"It doesn't matter" he said, referring to her reason for being on the roof of his home. "I know, anyway" Aki didn't say anything, so Naruto proceeded to continue.

"You cold?" he asked. Aki nodded slightly, as if embarrassed to admit it. "Come on, then. I've got an old friend with me, and she might be able to find something your size"

"Thanks" Aki muttered, otherwise silently following the Rokudaime Hokage. Naruto flashed her a grin.

"No problem" he said.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Arata grew impatient as he rapped his knuckles against Aki's bedroom door for the third time. He finally pushed the trapdoor aside and climbed inside, glancing around the cluttered room.

Almost everything a young ninja could want was in here, mostly shoved into corners or under rugs to fool Emi into thinking her room was clean. But Aki was absent from the picture.

Normally, Arata would have merely climbed back down the ladder and informed his mother that Aki was not in her room, but something caught his eye. A small patch of light was coming in from somewhere, and upon looking up, Arata spotted a trapdoor slightly ajar.

Shaking his head, Arata clucked his tongue at his younger sister's antics. He, being the nosy ninja that he was, knew that the Academy did not end senior-level classes at 3:30, but that Aki was merely in detention nearly every day. Arata had decided to keep this little piece of information to himself for a while, knowing one day it would come in handy.

After all, knowledge was power.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Shivering, Aki stepped into the Hokage's office, trying her best to keep her teeth from chattering. A young woman looked up at her from her comfy seat on the couch.

"Aki, this is Sakura" Naruto said, nodding to the woman. Aki held her soaked hand out to the woman. "Sakura, this is Mariko Aki"

"Pleasure" Sakura said, taking Aki's drenched hand and shaking it. While Naruto explained to Sakura what was going on, Aki took the opportunity to get a good look at the woman.

Sakura wasn't young, but she wasn't old, either. She looked about in her early thirties. She had short pink hair down to her shoulders, and her newly polished hitai-ate was worn in the same style as Aki's. She wore a simple gray Kunoichi dress, adorned by a pair of gray wristbands and blue ninja sandals. Her bright green eyes shimmered, and pity filled them when Naruto informed her that Aki had been out in the rain alone.

"So I was wondering if you had anything she could wear" Naruto finished up. Sakura smiled and nodded.

"How old are you?" she asked, addressing Aki for the first time. The new Genin jumped.

"Th-Thirteen" she said through her now-chattering teeth. Sakura smiled softly.

"It'll fit you perfectly, then" she said. Aki smiled slightly.

-xxxxxxxxxx-

"Aki's not in her room" Arata said when he reached the bottom of the steps. Emi crossed her arms.

"Where _is_ she?" she asked. Arata smirked.

"I don't think she's here" he said. His mother looked up at him.

"Really? Why?"

"The trapdoor, the emergency one, was slightly open. I think she ran off" Emi instantly fumed up.

"That girl!" she cried. "She probably wanted to dodge having to do her chores! Come on, A-" Emi stopped talking for a moment.

"We _can't_ look for her" she said. "Someone has to stay here and watch Takara. She's asleep"

"I'll go" Arata volunteered, smirking wider. He would just _love_ to be the one to bring his sister in. The punishment she would get…

"Oh, would you Arata?" Emi asked happily. "Thank you so much! Don't stray too far, though. I don't want you getting lost"

"All right" Arata said, flashing his mother a fake smile. He could not _wait_ to find his sister. He opened the door, nodded to his mother, and left.

Once outside, Arata broke into a run. The sooner he found his sister, the better. Of course, it shouldn't be too hard, considering he was a Chunin and her only a Genin…

-xxxxxxxxxx-

Aki grinned as she stepped into one of the many guest rooms the Hokage Hall had. Sakura had a duffel bag lying open on the bed, and the pink-haired woman made a beeline for it the moment she entered the room. She shuffled through a few things before finally finding what she was looking for.

"Here we are" Sakura said. From the bag she removed a set of clothes. Aki looked at them curiously.

The outfit was simple; a tan sweater with a black stripe across the middle and a pair of black capri pants. But somehow, they seemed more important than that.

"This is the outfit I passed the Chunin exam in" Sakura said, her tone indicating that it was far from her usual outfit. "I always kept it around with me, just for good luck. But you need a pair of dry clothes, so…"

Aki accepted the clothes, albeit a bit guiltily, and quickly changed into them in the bathroom. When she came out, Sakura stared.

"Wow" Aki said, looking down at herself. The clothes were a perfect fit, and somehow seemed to suit Aki perfectly. Sakura smiled.

"It's settled, then" she said. "You can keep them" Aki shook her head rapidly.

"No" she said, "they're important to you" Sakura shook her head.

"Aki" she said simply. "They were made for you. I have no use for them anymore, and they seem as if they're made for you. Keep them"

"But-"

"Aki. I insist. And besides, you just started out as a ninja, didn't you?"

"Just passed the exam today" Sakura smiled.

"Then they'll probably give you good luck. But to make sure they work for you, I suggest you add your own touch to them. Something of your own" Aki was silent, and Sakura walked over to her and tipped her chin up.

"Trust me" she said, and Aki finally nodded. Sakura grinned.'

"That's better" she said. "Now, let's get you back to Naruto so we can get you home" Aki nodded.

**Okay, I wasn't ACTUALLY going to end it there, but I figured- well, it's 2007 and you guys deserve a new chapter. Thanks to andrea for slapping some sense into me.**


End file.
